- Welcome to a Grace Digital presentation.
In this video, we cover three signs
that will come in the end times.
Number one, character degeneration.
One of Paul's prophecies begins
in an unusual way for Scripture.
"Know this," he says,
"that in the last days, perilous times shall come."
2 Timothy 3:1.
Know this.
Usually the word of God simply says,
this is the way it will be.
But Paul is so concerned
that we should have no misconception of the last days
that he says, "Know this."
In other words, he says, be aware of this.
This is the first description that Paul gives
after his invitation to know this,.
As we read it, we should ask ourselves again,
how many of these features are conspicuous
in our current culture?
"This know also, that in the last days
"perilous times shall come.
"For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
"covetous, boasters, proud,
"blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
"unholy, without natural affection
"truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent,
"fierce, despisers of those that are good.
"Traitors, heady, high-minded,
"lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
"Having a form of godliness,
"but denying the power thereof,
"from such turn away."
2 Timothy 3:1-5.
When Paul speaks about fierce times,
he begins with the root cause, men will be,
then he lists 18 moral or ethical blemishes.
In other words, human character is a core reason
of the dark days to come,
not nuclear fission or any other reason.
It is the moral corruption created in humanity by sin.
The appearance of these characteristics becomes more obvious
and blatant as this age approaches its end.
A word from this list from the New King James version,
the word unloving.
The King James version said it much better,
without natural affection.
In other words, even the normal love we expect
has in many cases vanished.
The love of parents for their children,
the love of brothers and sisters for each other.
We do not have to look far to see
that such love is evaporating rapidly.
The fundamental cause is selfishness.
It is an expression of self-fulfillment.
Note that the list starts and ends with what people love.
Self-love, love of money, and a love of pleasure.
These three loves are the root of all
the other negative attributes listed here,
and they are interconnected.
Why do people love money?
Because they love pleasure.
Money can buy pleasure, at least for a little while,
but it can't buy joy or peace.
The love of money is also an expression of pride.
Wealth can encourage us to be arrogant,
to flaunt our wealth,
and to act as if we are better than those who have less.
This love is rooted in the love of oneself.
That is the basis of what is breaking up our society today.
What you love will determine what you will be.
Self-love can be expressed as follows,
if you don't like the way I live, I'll go my way
and you go yours.
This attitude dominates the thinking
of much of today's world.
It is broken and is currently breaking down
in innumerable marriages.
When the marriage breaks down, the family breaks up.
When the family breaks apart, society breaks apart.
The government can spend trillions of pounds
to find a cure for the ills of society.
But there is only one thing, stable families.
Children should have two caring parents.
When a parent leaves,
it leaves unhappy, frustrated children,
who may vent their frustration at society.
The generation that neglects its children
breeds its own fountainhead of judgment.
The young people who have not been parented,
loved and disciplined by their parents
will grow up and plague our society with fury and hatred.
It is frightening, but it is happening and it is a tragedy.
The root cause is self-love.
All the other problems stem from it.
On the subject of marriage,
let me note here that there is both a recipe for disaster
and a recipe for success.
The recipe for disaster is
what will I get out of this?
If a person gets married on that basis,
the marriage will be a disaster.
The recipe for success is what can I give to this?
If a person goes into marriage with that attitude,
the marriage will be a success.
Number two, a form of godliness.
Paul next makes an amazing statement in this passage
about the people who exhibit these blatant evil sins.
He says that they have a form of godliness,
but deny its power.
2 Timothy 3:5.
Even though he is describing people
who embrace heinous sins,
Paul states that these people have a form of godliness.
The Greek word godliness is such
that I doubt Paul would have used it
of any religion except Christianity.
It does not lend itself to any religion
that is unchristian.
Thus, he is saying that these people
are professing Christians
but their lives have never been changed.
They deny the power of godliness,
the power of an encounter with Jesus
to change human lives radically and permanently.
A person can join a church, say a prayer,
sign a form and remain the same.
But if that person ever meets Jesus,
change will take place.
When people encounter Jesus, they can not remain the same.
A person can choose to become religious and join a church,
but still remain completely unchanged.
This is exactly what Paul says.
It is possible to have a form of godliness
but deny its power,
the power to change people radically
and permanently for the better.
Number three, excluded from the kingdom.
We now have to deal with a very delicate
but very important issue
in relation to these fierce days that are unfolding.
And so I would like to insert here
passages from three different letters of Paul
dealing with them.
God does not make exceptions
for those who reject his commandments willfully.
Paul says that these people will not inherit his kingdom
but then he adds, and these are beautiful words,
"But you were washed, but you were sanctified,
"but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
"and by the spirit of our God," verse 11.
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest
"which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness
"lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft,
"hatred, variance,
"emulations, wrath, strife,
"seditions, heresies, envyings, murders,
"drunkenness, reveling, and such like,
"of the which I tell you before,
"as I have also told you in past time
"that they which do such things
"shall not inherit the kingdom of God,"
Galatians 5:19-21.
It is now fashionable
to call fornication premarital sex
but that does not change the nature of the act in the least.
God is still calling it fornication.
One of the devil's subtle tricks
is to label old things with new labels.
In the second passage, Paul again says
that the people listed here have no inheritance
in the kingdom of God,
"but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness,
"let it not be once named among you as becometh saints,
"neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting
"which are not convenient
"but rather giving of thanks.
"For this ye know, that no whoremonger,
"nor unclean person, nor covetous man
"who is an idolater hath any inheritance
"in the kingdom of Christ and of God."
Ephesians 5:3-5.
These times in the Bible,
Paul says that such a person
cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
He says to the Galatians,
I told you before but I'm going to tell you again.
I believe brothers and sisters,
It is time we told the redeemed again,
today's standards are changing,
but God's standards haven't changed.
He's still the same.
The change in the label does not change the act.